The new Berkley-Dighton Bridge is being constructed slowly, but surely, said Dighton Selectman Dean Cronin.

Local residents have had to adjust to sporadic bridge closures during the day in recent months to accommodate parts of the construction process, Cronin said. The detours have been an annoyance, but the $12.5 million state bridge project is a necessity, he said.

“The new bridge will alleviate all the congestion,” Cronin said. “There is an awful lot of traffic that goes over the bridge, for the morning and afternoon commutes. The closings and the detours have been the biggest setback. It’s been very erratic. Work they have planned has a lot to do with the weather. Due to Mother Nature, all of sudden we have to postpone bridge closure announcements.”

Cronin said that many commuters from Dighton exit Route 24 in Berkley and go over the bridge into Dighton to get home.

The former bridge, and the temporary bridge currently in place, featured only one lane, with a traffic light allowing one side to cross the bridge at a time. The new bridge will have two lanes, allowing for constant flow of traffic, which will be a great improvement, Cronin said.

“We are not going to see a big increase in business or traffic with the new bridge,” Cronin said. “But it will definitely make it easier. … Right now there seems to be tendency when light turns red, another 10 cars will still take a shot because they know the light is delayed on other side. So, a 30 second delay turns into a minute. The new bridge will alleviate that problem.”

Massachusetts Department of Transportation spokesman Michael Verseckes said on Wednesday that the project remains on track to be completed by May 2015. The Lowell-based S&R Corporation Construction began in July 2012.

Earlier this week, MassDOT said that there would be approximately 20 more daytime detours this year during fall construction. Earlier this week, the agency announced that a detour would be in place today from 9 a.m. through 2 p.m.

MassDOT is instructing motorists normally taking the bridge going toward Dighton to instead take a right on Berkley Street when approaching the bridge on Elm Street, following it north toward Taunton, where it eventually leads to Route 138.

Paul Modlowski, executive secretary for Berkley’s town government, said he has been watching as the work progresses.

“They are doing some serious building this week,” Modlowski said, adding that the materials for the project have been stored across the street from his office. “Yesterday, at noon, they were boring like crazy.”

Recent work includes drilling, putting in concrete for drilled shafts and installing permanent shaft casing.

“That means they are really getting going,” Modlowski said. “This is great. Right now it’s a bottleneck like you wouldn’t believe. … It’s nice that we are getting close to having that bridge.”

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The former Berkley-Dighton Bridge was demolished three years ago after more than 100 years of use. A temporary bridge was then put in its place during the construction of the new $12.5 million bridge.

The bridge runs between Elm Street in Berkley and Center Street in Dighton, right near the Bristol County Agricultural High School.